Speed controller of a bicycle

ABSTRACT

A speed controller has a body, a collar interference fit in the through hole of the body, a rotation element having an arcuate extension formed to correspond to an arcuate passage and provided with multiple notches, a sleeve formed to mate with an elongated extension and an elongated protrusion so that a user is able to rotate the sleeve to drive the rotation element to rotate and obtain the requirement of speed change. Furthermore, the friction between the body and the cable is reduced by removing the lining of the body, so that a force required to operate the speed controller is greatly reduced.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a speed controller, and more particularly to speed controller of a bicycle. The speed controller has a body, a rotation element, a sleeve, a collar and a position element. The body and the rotation element are combined into one piece to eliminate the friction of the cable so as to provide a stable speed change.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] A conventional speed controller normally uses the handlebar with a length of L to drive the cable with a length of l_(o), as shown in FIG. 6. The length of the cable is changed to 1 such that the length change of the cable becomes 1 _(o)-l. With reference to FIG. 6, l_(o)−l=L/cos θ−L/cos θ_(o)=L(l/cos θ−l/cos θ_(o)) It is meant to increase the rotation angle of the speed controller. However, it has its drawback, such as:

[0005] When the cable is driven, because the head tube is firmly fixed, a great deal of friction exists between the cable and the head tube, which causes the speed controller difficult to rotate.

[0006] With reference to FIG. 7, it is noted that a handlebar c extends through a conventional rotation element a and a body b. When the cable d is driven, the length change of the cable is fixed, which causes the rotation angle of the rotation element is not sufficient enough to perfectly fulfill the speed change and has the following drawbacks:

[0007] 1. The rotation angle of the position element e is not enough such that the friction of the position element causes the life span of the position element short.

[0008] 2. To overcome the friction, the user will have to apply a large force, which causes the operation of the position element difficult.

[0009] To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention intends to provide an improved retaining device to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The primary objective of the invention is to provide an improved speed controller, which removes the lining of the body to reduce the friction between the cable and the body.

[0011] Another objective of the invention is that the position element has a centrally formed protrusion to fix the relative movement between the position element and the rotation, such that the speed change is much more accurate than the conventional one.

[0012] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the speed controller in accordance with the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the speed controller of the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the speed controller of FIG. 2 from another angle;

[0016]FIG. 4 is a side plan view showing the engagement between the body and the position element;

[0017]FIG. 5 is a side plan view of the rotation element together with the cable;

[0018]FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the length change of a conventional cable and the handlebar; and

[0019]FIG. 7 is a side plan view of a conventional speed controller.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0020] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a speed controller in accordance with the present invention has a body 1, a rotation element 2, a sleeve 3, a collar 4 and a position element 5.

[0021] The body 1 has a centrally defined through hole 10, an annular groove 11 defined in a face defining the through hole 10, a first pin hole 12 defined in a face defining the groove 11 and a control lever 13 extending out from an end of the body 1 and having a hole 131 defined in an end of the control lever 13 to allow a cable to extend therethrough.

[0022] The collar 4 is interference fit in the through hole 10 and received in the groove 11. The collar 4 has a second pin hole 41 defined to correspond to the first pin hole 12 so that after the collar 4 is received in the groove 11, a pin 42 extends through the second pin hole 41 and into the first pin hole 12 to secure the engagement between the collar 4 and the body 1.

[0023] The rotation element 2 has a central hole 20, an arcuate extension 21 formed to correspond to an arcuate passage 14 and provided with multiple notches 211, as shown in FIG. 3, and an elongated extension 22 integrally formed on a side of the rotation element 2 and provided with multiple elongated protrusions 23 formed on a face of the elongated extension 22.

[0024] The sleeve 3 is formed to mate with the elongated extension 22 and the elongated protrusion 23 so that a user is able to rotate the sleeve 3 to drive the rotation element 2 to rotate and obtain the requirement of speed change.

[0025] It is to be noted that when the rotation element 2 is combined with the body 1, because the lining of the body 1 is removed, a large scale of friction of the cable to the lining of the body 1 is reduced. Furthermore, due to the reduction of the friction of the cable, the rotation element 2 has a larger rotation angle (10% increase) when compared with the conventional one.

[0026] With reference to FIG. 5, the principle of the advantage of the invention is show as follow:

[0027] Wherein

[0028] r, R are the radius of the cable around the rotation element;

[0029] d, D are the operation angle;

[0030] S is the distance of the speed controller driven by the cable;

[0031] S=r₁θ₁=r₂θ₂

[0032] θ₁/θ₂=r₂/r₁1.1 which shows that the rotation angle is increased by 10%

[0033] T (torque)=pr

[0034] T₁=pr₁ T₂=Pr₂

[0035] T₁/r₁=T₂/r₂ T₁/T₂=r₁/r₂=0.9 which shows that the force required is reduced by 10%

[0036] With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 and taking FIG. 4 for reference, it is to be noted that the arcuate passage 14 has a recess 15 defined in a face defining the arcuate passage 14 to correspond to a central protrusion 52 of the position element 5. The position element 5 has two feet 52 each formed on opposite sides of the position element 5 and received in two adjacent notches 211 so that the rotation element 2 can only rotate in one direction, which provides stability to the speed controller of the invention when used. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A speed controller of a bicycle, the speed controller comprising: a body having a centrally defined through hole, an annular groove defined in a face defining the through hole, a first pin hole defined in a face defining the groove and a control lever extending out from an end of the body and having a hole so defined in an end of the control lever that a cable is able to extend therethrough; a collar interference fit in the through hole and received in the groove and having a second pin hole defined to correspond to the first pin hole so that after the collar is received in the groove, a pin extends through the second pin hole and into the first pin hole to secure the engagement between the collar and the body; a rotation element having a central hole, an arcuate extension formed to correspond to an arcuate passage defined in the body and provided with multiple notches, and an elongated extension integrally formed on a side of the rotation element and provided with multiple elongated protrusions formed on a face of the elongated extension; a sleeve formed to mate with the elongated extension and the elongated protrusion so that a rotation of the sleeve is able to drive the rotation element to rotate and obtain the requirement of speed change; and a position element having two feet each formed on opposite ends of the position element to be received in two adjacent notches of the rotation element and a central protrusion formed to correspond to a recess defined in a face defining the arcuate passage. 